Brick-conveyer.



PATENTED' my as, 1908.

w: R. MARTIN. I BRICK GONVEYER. APYLIQATIOF FILED MAY 17, 1907- I 3SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Wihwaaep v I N .a 8 s31. 1 x r: TED MAY2 190s.

w R." MARTIN. PAT

' BRIGKIGONVEYBRL a sums-211mm.

APPLICATION FILED HAY 1'l 1907.

twang;

- am 8 0. M 9 3 1 H J 6 2 m w m s M s D E T N E m A W 0v 1 N IYM THEMRV. R 0 M R T8 .W m W M DI L D; P A

inc. 858,851 I 7 l caster, in fthe'county of- Lancaster and StateofgPennsylvania, have'invented certain new "To all may concern: T Be itknown thatl, WILLIAM R. MARTY-1N, a

winLrAM n.- MARTIN, or LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA.

Baron-converse;

.jH-Specifieation of Letters Patent. Patentedghiaylgfi, '7

' l Application filed May 17,1907.- seen No.= 374,176.

citizen offthe United States, residing at Lana nd"useful Improvements inBrick-Conveyers'; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear,'and exact description of the inventiomsuch as will enable othersskilled in the artjto which is appertains to make and use mess ng,

This invef'ftion relates to conveyers, and

i Inore'particularly off-bearing conveyers used in brick-yards or plantsfor transporting allets of brick tofand: fromthe driers or e se- 7where.

R Ina modernly equippe'd plant, as exem lifled in my prior' applicationsSerial os.

" 306,686fand 367,045, where an off-bearing belt or endless cableconveyer runs from the brickmachine.to and through the dryinghouse orbetween the. drying racks, the green brick as they are taken in moldsfrom the brick-press or moldingmachine arereceived or dumped uponsuitablefpallets or trays, which are deposited either manually ormechanic'ally'upon' the head end of theconveyer and carried ofi therebyto the driers, where workmen are stationed to remove the pallets andplace them upon the drying shelves or racks. .After drying, the alletsof dried brick are taken from the rac s and replaced u on the conveyerfor transportation to the Kilns, and the empty pallets, after the driedbrick havebeen dumped or removed therefrom, are placed upon the lowerrun of the conveyer and returned thereby to the originalfloading stationin proximity to the brick-machine. v i

"The main objects of my invention are: first," to provide for dumpingthe molded brick upon the pallets at a safe and convenient station orposition in advance of the receiving end of the conveyer, and for gentlymoving the loaded pallets into the conveyer to be carried ofi thereby;second, to cause the returning run of the conveyer to deposit the emptypallets ata convenient position for use in reloading third, to allow'theconveyor to make a quarter or other turn by taking the pallets oil of orout of contactwith the conveyer when making such turn and placing themin properfposition on theconveyer afterthe turn; and, further, toprovide very simple and efiicient' means for securin the resu ts andperforming the functions a ove stated.

-thelower run-of the conveyer.

side view of the subject-matterof Fig. 1.

My invention may be embodied with either a belt or cable-conveyer',cables being pre ferred.

Without restricting myself to the specific construction illustrated, theinvention will hereinafter be fully described with reterence' 'tothe-accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, andwill then be more particularly pointed out in the claims following thisdescription;

In said drawings: Figure-1 is a tep plan view of a portion of anapparatus embodying my invention, including part of an endless cableconveyer at its head or receiving end, a dump-board for dumping thegreen brick upon pallets, a gravity carrier for moving theloaded'pallets from the dump boaxd onto the conveyer, and a gravitycarrier for receiving and depositing empty pallets returned by Fig. 2isa Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view of the dump-board,receiving end of the conveyer, and associated devices, showin thedump-board in its lowermost horizontar position; also indicating bydotted lines the upright'position of the dum board. Fig. 4 is a viewsimilar'to Fig. 3, utshowing the dump-board when held bya treadle at aslightly elevated position. Fig. 5 is a front end view of thesubject-matter or Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive. Fig. 6 is a side view of thefoot or rear end of the endless cable-conveyer. Fig. 7 is aperspectiveview of a quarter turn of the conveyer. Fig. 8 is adetail plan viewshowing a modification of the dump-board.

In the drawings, A denotes the paraiiel cables of an endlesscableconveyer, passing around sheaves or pulleys B and C at the frontand rear endsof the conveyer, and running over suitable guiding andsupporting pulleys D at intermediate points. Power fonrunning theconveyer maybe applied by any appropriate means,.and at either end ofthe conveyor; but in a. brickplant the confrom its front or head end,simply for the reason that the brick-machine and ts engine or othermotor from which power is sup lied veyer is usually for convenience runor driven are located in proximity to such end. Ti refore,in theillustrated construction, the shaft of the sheaves or pulleys B is, byway of eX-v 4 ample, shown provided with a pulley b for appliqation ofpower. At the opposite or rear end of the conveyer are, of course, ar'

ranged suitable devices for tensioning the cables; the sheaves orpulleys C, as represented in Fig. 6, being mounted in appropriateadjustable bearings C manipulated by adjusting screws F fortensioningthe cables, .in lieu of which any of the well knownadjustingrdevices may obviously be substituted.

or dumping the fresh brick from molds upon pallets, I have representedatE a device known among brick-makers as a dump-' board, Said devicecomprises a flat board or plate (or any equivalent member adapted old apallet, such for example as an open frame), hinged or pivotally mountedupon any suitable standard or other support, as indicated by F, to ermitthe dump-board to -be tilted up and et down horizontally, or

iplaced flatwise u on or againstsaid dump- I oard, the edge thepal-htrestingenasnitable ledge or shoulder c at the front of the duirn-boar,d, sftid ledge a being down when The operator thed'takes'a mold ofbrick and places it the ump-board is upright.

, facewise against or upon the pallet, at the same time throwing downthe dump-board together with the pallet and'mold to horizontail orapproximately horizontal position;

then he lifts off the mold, leaving the brick P 2 W un erstood bypersons familiar with the art to which.my'invention a pertains.

Heretefore, in order to ess en manual labor in depositing the loadedpallet upon the conveyer,\it hasfbeen customary to arrange thedump-boardeither above the conveyer so as to lower it and therebydeposit the pallet upon the cables, or else tolocate the dumpboardbetween thecables or between the pulleys B so that-the pallet whenresting on the dump-board in its lowermost horizontal position would beengaged by. the cables or by the driveesheaves, or by projections 0n thecables or drive-sheaves, and thereby carried off. Such'prior mechanicalexpedients,while lessening manual labor, have however had the commondisadvantage of requiring the attendants. to operate the dump-board inimmediate proximity to the drive-sheaves or pulleys, which was not onlyinconvenient because of the necessity of working between thedrive-sheaves and avoiding contact there with, but also exposed the mento more-or less danger by contact with the running machinery, includingthe belting or driving gears for running thr' drive-sheaves oftheconveyer. Furthermore, it. was-necessary to run the conveyer slowlyin order to' prevent toosuddenly carryingf'bfi' the pallet during theduni, ing operation, and even so the pallet woul frequently beremoved'duringsuch rly positioned upon the pallet, as well.

operation or before the brick had been completely dumped, or before themold. had been fully lifted off from the pallet, thereby causing more orless deformation and spoiling the brick. According to'my presentinvention,

however, the dumpboard is stationed at a safe and convenient position inadvance of the receiving end of the conveyer (either in alinementtherewith or otherwise as most expedient), at a sufficient distance toavoid working inimmediate proximity with the cable drive-sheaves andpower applying mechanism; and the movement of the loaded palletonto theconveyer is efiected by a gravity-cairier'G, comprising inclined rows ofsmall antif'riotion wheels adaptedto revolve freely and over which thepallet rides easily and gently from the dump-board to the upper runs ofthe conveyer-cables, which engage under and bear off the pallet so delivered thereto. As shown, the dump-boar. is arranged between twoparallel rows of said antifriction wheels, which rows of wheels slantdownwardly from the dump-board and at anapproximate level with the upperruns of the conveyer-cables. When the dumpboard is in its lowermosthorizontal position, as represented in Figs. 2 and 3, its upper surfacebeing just below the top perimeters of the wheels or rollers G, the endsof the pallet of brick will rest upon said wheels and. hence pass bygravity to the conveyer. The wheels are shown journaled to supportingbars or rails g'which may be mounted upon any suitable standards,brackets or other supports, asindicated by g and g in the drawings. Thedump board is shown in aline'ment with or immediately in front of thereceiving end of the-conve er, but if desired, by reason. of therelative ocation of the brick-press, said dump-board can be offset toeither side of the conveyer and the gravity-carrier can be made in anare or curve to properly deliver the pallets to the conveyer.

As a modified arrangement, the dumpboard may be constructed as athree-sided To prevent the pallet from leaving the dumpoa-rd untilthexbricks are properly shediofthe mold, that is until the mold islifted entirely off the bricks, Imay provide a displaceableistopforlimiting the lowering of thedump-board until removal of the. moldy, Forthis. purpose, I show a treadle H, hinged or pivoted at "it .to thestandard F,

- or to an convenient support, and'carrying an upri'g t bar it. .Whendumping the brick mold upon ea pallet, the. operator'rests his head 1?of the bar it to take under and bear the pallets, and the emptyuponi'the lower run of t e conveyer and returned thereby to the originalloading staup the dump-board to a slight elevation, sufiicient tosupport the ends of the pallet above or out.of contact with theantifriction wheels or gravity carrier 1), as shown in Fig. 4. As soonas the mold is lifted off from the brick, the operator releases thet-readle, permitting the dump-board. to lower, as shown in Fig. 3, sothat the ends of the loaded pallet will rest on and ride off on thegravity carrier. However, by arranging the gravity-wheels practicallybut not absolutely on a level with a the dump-board in its horizontalposition,

the mold can be lifted oil without injury to the brick, and with only ash ht' gravity the pallet will move off after the rick has-been shed ofthe mold, so that the apparatus can be practically operated without thetreadle arrangement. Y Usually, after a drying o eration, the alletsofbrick are removed om the drylug-racks and replaced u' on the conveyerfor transportation to the 'lns, or other depository. At the far end ofthe conveyer, or at such other point asmay be expedient, the pallets ofdried brick are taken oil, and rick are dumped or removed from theallets are replaced tion. For receiving and delivering the emptypallets, as they are returned by the lower run of the conveyer, Iprovide a gravity carrier J, shown in Figs. 1 and 2, comprising twoinclined rows of tracks of small antifriction wheels or rollers,arranged insuch relationto the lower runs of the cables that thereturning pallet will ride onto said gravity carrier at its receivingend and move over the wheels by gravity, assisted by the mo mentumimparted to the pallet, and be dis char e'd-r'rom the conveyer; thegravity carrier eing also arrangedinan are or curve so as to dischargethe pallets at the side of the conveyer. cated between the drive-sheavesB and the first set of intermediate supportin pulleys D. Asshown, thelower runs oft e cables pass over the lower pulley D at a higher elevation than the adjacent end of the gravity carrier J, while the cablespass under the drivesheaves'B at a lower elevation This permits thereceiving end of the gravity carrier J to be placed at an approximatelevel wi'th'the cables so as to properly take the pallet from thecables, while yet the gravity carrier inclines downwardly toward itsdis-- charging end and passes over the lower runs of the cables at oneside. The antifriction wheels are shown journaled to supporting bars orrails 7', which may be supported on suitable standards 9' or otherwise.

, In practical o eration of the apparatus,

one man is-usual y assigned to the operation This device is preferablyloof the dumpboard, so as bricks delivered from the briclnpress -or.

Another attendant su plies the He places a pallet onflt eAdinnpa allet.a lets.

oard, in position to receive-a mold of brick, as fast as a previously;loaded pallet is carried off. It will thus be seen; thatthe, gravitycarrier J is arrangedso-asto discharge or deliver the emptypalletsatajcon-:

molding machine and dump-the bricks .uponvenient position to be takenbyi this attends ant for -.use at the dumprboards Inasmuch as thekilns,jare; -usually*. out of line withthe.conveyer,; .i t; has gener-Qally been necessary, prior to, my; invention,

to remove the bricks fromthe farend' of the; conveyer, just beyond the.far .ends of the; racks, and there load the bricks-ontrucks, cars,orupon another conveyer, for delivery: to the kilns; the empty alletsbeingplaced upon the lower runs of t econveyerandre.

turned as aforesaid. ltfiss iar. preferable,- however, to extend theconveyerlaterallyto the kilns, making a quarterturn or such other turnas necessary. To enable, this ,to' .be

provided a construction as; shown in Fig. 7,

wherein the conveyer makes atum by pass- L, while the palletsarecarriedoverthe turn by gravity-carriers M, comprising sin all antifriction wheels or rollers arranged in curved.

lines or rows, so as to receive thepalletsfrom the conveyer justbeforetheqturn, and to deliver the pallets upon theaconveyer just beyondthe turn. gravity carriers, one foritransferriiig the loaded palletsover theturn-of; the upper run of the conveyer, and one iortransferrmgthe em ty pallets over the turn ofthelow en The receiving and dis 7charging ends of the gravity-carriers are respectively located onapproximate levels run of t e conveyer.

with the conveyer, and .thef-guide pulleyslL are mounted below the;gravit v-carriers.

There are/two of such '90 done, and toafford practicable, means .forcarrying the pallets around the.turn,,I have Inasmuch as the receiving.end 1o the-upper gravity-carrier is at the; same sidQof; the; turn asthe discharging g end of the lower gravity-carrier, the two ,sets,ofgwheelsj or gravity-carriers, slanting; respectlyelyifrom theirreceiving totheir, delivery-ends, jare downwardly inclined in oppositedirections,

To meet "this condition, the upper runof the conveyer falls to a lowerlevel aft er the turn, while the lower run of the'conveyer is at ahigher level; which arrangement is effective b proper positionin of thepulleys D.

ence, the loaded pal ets, passing over the upper run of the conr' eyer,are carried bythe u er set of gravity wi'ieels to a lower level; wlulethe returning empty, pallets passing on the lower run of the conveyerare likewise carried by the lower act of gravity wheels to a lowerlevel. It will thus be seen that the with the bearings for the pulleysL, may be mounted in any suitable supporting frame, a practicableconstruction being represented in Fig. 7 of the drawings. The gravitycarriers or roller tracks are inclined in going around the turn, that isthe outer row of wheels is slightly higher (desirably aboutthree-quarters of an inch) than the inner row of wheels. The sameinclination should be applied to the roller track of the gravitycarrierJ for delivering the empty pallet at the receivin end of the conveyer.

I do not desire to be understood-as limiting myself to the specificconstruction herein illustrated and described, since variousmodifications can be made in the details of construction and arrangementof parts, and the invention may be embodied in other practicable formsof a paratus without departing from the principe thereof.

I do not desire to be essentially restricted to the specific uses hereinset forth, since my invention may be ada ted for handlin and conveyingtrays of other plastic artic es or substances, as well as other thingsthan trays or 1pallets.

claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent.

1. The combination, with a conveyer, of a hinged or tilting dump-boardfor dumping brick from a mold upon a pallet located away from theconveyer, and a gravity-carrier extending from the dump-board to theconveyer and arranged in osition to receive or support the loaded palletwhen lowered to approximately horizontal position by the dump-board andallow said pallet to ride thereover onto the conveyer.

2. The combination, with a conveyer, of a dump-board in advance of thereceiving end' of the conveyer, and a gravity carrier arranged betweenthe dump-board and reoeiving end of the conveyer and in position toreceive the loaded pallet when lowered by the dump-board and to ridethereover onto the conveyer.

3. The combination, with an endless conveyer for bearing off pallets of.bricks placed esaesr upon the upper run of said conveyer at itsreceiving end and returning empty pallets on its lower run, of agravity-carrier associated with said lower run of the conveyer near thereceiving end of the conveyer, said gravity-carrier having its higherend ar ranged in position to receive the pallets re turned by the lowerrun of the conveyer and said gravity-carrier slanting downward over andcurvingto one side of said lower run of the conveyer to allow saidpallets to ride thereover off from the conveyer.

4. The combination, with-a conveyer, of a gravity-carrier provided at anintermediate ortion of the conveyer for discharging pa ets broughtthereto by the conveyer, the conveyer being downwardly-inclined in thedirection of its travel under said gravitycarrier, the higher andreceiving end of said gravity-carrier being positioned to receive thepellets from the conveyer and said gravity-carrier being curved andpassing at a lower level over and oil to one side of the conveyer, fordelivering the allets to the side.

5. The combination oi a traveling conveyer supported and guided to makea turn, and having a higher elevation at the approach than at the end ofthe turn and a curved gravity-carrier for transferring pallets carriedby the conveyer around the turn out of contact with the conveyer, saidgravitycarrier having its higher and receiving end positioned to receivethe pallets brought thereto by the approaching run of the con veyer andhaving its lower .end positioned to deliver the pallets upon thedeparting run of the conveyer.

6. The combination of an endless conveyer supported and guided to make aturn,

the upper run of the conveyer being higher as it approaches the turn andthe lower run being higher as it approaches the turn in the oppositedirection, and oppositely inclined curved gravity carriers arranged inassociation with the upper and lower runs of the conveyer for receivingpallets brought thereto by the approaching runs and transferring saidpallets over or around the turn and lacing them upon the departing runs0 the conveyer.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

' WILLIAM R. MARTIN. Witnesses RALPH V. ALEXANDER, G. B. KELLER.

